IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER

I had the best seat in the ground

No he didn't. He sent the players over. I reckon that if he did he would have been greeted with boos.

Apologies Commisioner - Yes Vigurs made the pass and a fine one at that. Perhaps the voddies were stronger than I thought !! But Esson did mess up twice and Raven was caught unawares. But Richie should have stopped all that survival nonsense. Perhaps if he had been gobsmacked and bollicking many moons ago and learned from his mistakes ??

Well I travelled with forlorn hope and a fair degree of trepidation. But that still did not stop me and my 146 compatriots from sitting in the away stand, cheer on the boys and hope for some salvation. My only negative thought at the start was the inclusion of Anier but otherwise I was quite happy with the first team choice. Fisher has deserved his chance and may have been a more polished player if he had been given a run early. He had a clear cut chance in the 2nd minute, through on goal, 1-1 with McDonald and he totally fecked it up. If he had kept his composure, as he did 69 minutes later then it may have been a different story. So we have a plastic pitch. We are playing in to the wind and the driving rain. Killie know the surface and they play tippy tappy at the back, use the width, take people on and are patient. Us we hoof at every opportunity. Billy Mckay must wonder what the feck is going on. Anier offers sod all and Mulraney has an off-day but rarely gets a ball at his feet or a pass to run on to. The clear tactic was to feckin hoof it. And for the second time away from home Esson makes the second big error (OK there were 2 errors) of his belated season and gifts the first goal to Longstaffe. Just what we did not need. You could see some heads go down at that time. Have to say that I was really impressed by Frizell, Jones and Wilson. If we had that three playing for us we would have hammered them. But we have Foran and the hoof. So half time comes along and you think lets have a go. But God lets us down again. The wind dies down, the rain stops and some feckin sunshine comes out. And as if that wasn’t bad enuff we hook Mulraney for Vigurs. We put Draper up front and we switch Fisher to wide right midfield. Yes wide right midfield !! Foran complained about our defending for the second but I thought it was tidy lead up play and a very tidy finish by Jones who had tormented Brad all day long. And guess who had the two long range shots on target – of course – David Raven !! Anier goes off, 58 minutes too late, and gets replaced by Polworth who never got into the game. Not sure exactly where he was playing though. And then we hook Draper and take on Cole. BUT we put Cole on the left BUT keep Fisher on the wide right and put Mckay up front on his own. We pack feckin midfield with the lackadaisical Vigurs and Tansey with Polworth running around like a headless chicken. But as the chants against Foran begin to grow we put ourselves back in the game. Great pass from Tansey and Fisher tucks it away very neatly, 69 minutes too late. Lee McCulloch summed it up nicely – “The last 10 minutes were a bit nervy but we got there in the end.” We began to show the desire and fight that we should have been showing for weeks, nay months. No player can be faulted for endeavour in the last 15 minutes. Killie looked shell shocked and took their feet off the pedal. And wee Billy could have got us that desperately needed point with a glorious lob which would have been a goal of the season contender if it went in. We actually started playing football as well. Alas too late. And Foran summed up the day – “I'm delighted with the players' performance, believe it or not. I told them they should be proud of themselves, how they handled the occasion.” Well he must have just been watching the last fifteen minutes and had forgotten the deplorable first 45. And then "Individual mistakes have cost us again. The only disappointing part is the second goal. Jones has so much space to run at us. It's a set-piece for us, they break and score - that's schoolboy defending but overall we were the far better team and had far better chances.” – DOH – wrong goal – and we deserved a point and that would have been a bit of a robbery. “We didn't get what we deserved and that was the three points, in my mind. We need to cut out the individual mistakes, it's been the story of the season.” – Yes agree about the individual mistakes and add it has been the story of MY season. Some players do NOT play for you. And then he concludes as a modern day Lazarus – “We need help from other clubs now, simple as that. We need to do our business on Wednesday and Saturday. There is still a chance. It is probably a small chance, but there is a chance." – WTF !! No Smileymometer but here are my conclusions. Esson did OK but that one mistake early doors killed us. Brad was taken apart by Jones, Raven was solid and full of endeavour. Warren was my MOM for clearly giving his all. Laing was quietly effective. Mulraney never got going and Anier never has got going. Draper looked OK in midfield but was lost up front against a very tall Killie central defence. Tansey looks pretty but he is keeping himself for Aberdire. Fisher gave his all but was a fish out of water wide right. Wee Billy never got used and was a waste in the hole role. He is best on the toes of the last defender. Vigurs actually started trying to play football but he is such a lazy *******. Polworth and Cole made no impact. Ah Well it looks like Dumfries will be my ”home” game next season.

Full report 2 morro. We were second best until they went 2 up, they switched off and we could have scraped a draw. Fisher missed an absolute sitter in the 2nd minute. The rain and wind was against us but we just hoofed. Anier was terrible but Mulraney was just as bad but they were both bypassed. Esson fecked up the 1st goal but the decision to play the hard working Draper up front and playing Fisher wide right was incredibly stupid - and then hooking Draper? !! We fought and gave it our all, except Tansey, but we chopped and changed as usual, never got into a rhythm and at times did not appear to know what we were doing. I blame Maurice Mispass

I love Fannies

But can the same not be said at most clubs in Scotland ? And the said much better facilities across the bridge don't fare better either. It is an underdeveloped national problem which affects us right to the very top - which ain't very Feckin high.

Personally I don't want to think about this until 17.00 hours as I am hopefully walking out of Rugby Park with three points. Nothing else matters.

Simply has to be the same again. Or is it that simple ?

That could have been 6 or 7. May be harsh but perhaps we were lucky that Vigurs was struck down with illness. I will keep the voodoo doll. Chop and change again. I bet that not many argued against the starting X1 apart from Anier. Let's pray for Tinkerville and its off to Killie next Saturday. Johndo the Unknown corpse.

Perhaps he should have talked tactics and selections !!

M. Ward - sounds like a hospital !! - Welcome but your picky suggests that you look as old as me !! No chance that we will ever go into liquidation. Fraid that there could be a surprise revelation that should have been communicated a lot earlier. Undoubtedly when we go down. Most people will welcome it - lets just say that we may well be going up next year. May keep this post as a future signature

Yip and he wouldn't have got us to a Scottish Cup Final, won it and into the Europa League.

Could people read through the post 5-1 Tynecastle thread. Is it not condemning that nearly everything that was raised in that aftermath has come true ?!! And that was long before Xmas. To me the problem with Hughes was that a lot of the fans wanted entertainment as well as survival. The Board and Hughes were at daggers for months. I feel that he basically said that he could not take the club any further without extra financial resources. That totally frustrated him so he set up a system to survive. To be fair the board may not have had the resources to fuel his ambitions. After Butcher and Hughes I also feel that the Board opted for what they thought would be the easy option. I also feel that, like Foran, thay all thought that we would scrape through this season. If Foran was going to go he would have gone by now. The Board will stick by Foran now. He has admitted his greenness. The blame is and will be stuck on the players. It really is a sad,sad state of affairs.

Our main problem is chop and change and a complete lack of consistency. We have basically been picking teams game to game. And after the Tinkerville embarrassment that is going to happen again. In trying to read into the Foran psyche I think that he will dump Raven but will keep Vigurs. I also think that he will play 1 up front and play Fisher instead of wee Billy. I also suspect that he will bring back Fon Williams and Warren. In most instances I would have welcomed the return of Warren but not this season. I can also see him considering Anier. Perhaps the Mispass Messiah will whisper in his ear and save the day.

Worth looking through this thread again

Lets face it - There is only ONE thing now that could boost the players and the fans and keep us in the top flight. It is probably too late but it has to be. Even if it is Misspass - which I now suspect was the Boards Plan B.

ORION'S BOW - RIPON 3.20

And the winner is - Maurice Malpas

Good captains do NOT get hooked

For its a local team to play for, its a local team to support - And If you know the history, its enough to make yer chest beat proud, Inversneckie We don't care if we're Premier or Championship - What the feck do we care - Because we will always bounce back - As we have done before - And the Caley Thistle will be there. CaleytillIIdie. O2B

Gave my first ever red dot.